Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler recommended today that about
50,000 Maryland 17-year-olds be allowed to vote in the Feb. 12
presidential primary, reversing an opinion from his staff that prompted
state officials to deny them voting rights before they are 18.

The
First Amendment right of the state's political parties to determine who
can vote in primary elections trumps any new state policy on voter-age
restrictions, Gansler said in a five-page opinion his office issued
this morning.

Since the 1970s, Maryland residents have been able
to register at age 17 as long as they turned 18 by the date of the
general election in November. Tens of thousands of 17-year-olds
routinely voted in primary elections.

But the Board of Elections
reversed the policy late last year, based on an opinion from the
attorney general's office. A state lawyer advised election officials
that a December 2006 Court of Appeals decision invalidating an
early-voting law passed by the General Assembly that year also affected
voters in primary elections. Assistant Attorney General Mark Davis
wrote that primaries, according to the court's ruling, are governed by
the same regulations as general elections, which allow only those 18
and over to vote.

But the change in policy drew protests from the
state Republican and Democratic parties, which have an interest in
seeing as many new voters on the rolls as possible. The parties heard
complaints from angry parents and their teenagers.

The issue also
galvanized voting-rights advocates, who complained that confusion over
the new rules led to very low registration by 17-year-olds this year.
Students at Archbishop Spalding School in Severn launched a page on
Facebook to protest the ruling and prepared to come to Annapolis to
protest.

On Monday, Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery) asked
Gansler for a formal opinion on whether Maryland's political parties
could decide the question. Raskin, a law professor who has taken an
interest in voting-rights issues in the legislature, argued that the
parties' federal right to freedom of association to determine who can
participate in choosing the party's candidates for office overruled any
interpretation of state law.

Gansler agreed with Raskin today and
recommended that the Board of Elections change its policy. At a meeting
tomorrow, the board is expected to reinstate the right of 17-year-olds
to vote in next month's Democratic and Republican primaries.

Timing of the change will be tight, though: Jan. 22 is the registration deadline to vote in the primary.

Raskin
said that in spite of the confusion so close the primary, the
controversy may result in more interest by young voters in
participating in the political process.

FairVote, a voting rights
group, this morning announced a public information campaign with the
Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals to notify eligible
students of the registration deadline.